Developmental nicotine exposure adversely effects respiratory patterning in the barbiturate anesthetized neonatal rat

Highlights • A novel application of the autocorrelation function to the assessment of respiratory patterning. • Distinguishes instantaneous differences in respiratory-related digital traces including those derived from chest wall motions. • Differentiate respiratory instability on the basis of short i.e., 2 min sampling windows. • Permits identification of factors that augment or mitigate respiratory instability and quantitates risk.